It was true that Harry Styles was good at a lot of things, and charming the pants off a girl was on the top of that list.

Olivia had to give the Holmes Chapel native some credit. He acted like a true gentleman: opening doors, paying for lunch (no matter how relentless Olivia was in insisting she pay for herself), and not attempting any funny business.

He took her to a local park in New Jersey, their last stay on the tour before heading back to New York for a finale show. Then they would head back to London for a few weeks of much-needed rest until the new album was released and the world-wide tour lifted off.

“This is nice,” Olivia almost didn’t want to admit it.

Harry smiled cheekily, “Yeah? See, I’m not so bad once you give me a right chance.”

“When you’re not being a womanizing prick, you can be a real sweetheart.” Olivia grinned, sipping on her iced coffee.

“That’s sweet of you to say.” He stirred his tea, leaning against a rail overlooking the green park. Some festival was going on and dozens of families covered the area. Gleeful screams lifted through the air from children running wild, having the time of their life.

“Don’t get used to it.” Olivia warned playfully, nudging him when he stared out into the park. “You some sort of pedophile?” She joked, eying the few kids giggling through a sprinkler.

Harry snorted, shaking his head. “Nah, I like a good woman to keep me warm at night.”

“And the womanizing prick is back.” Olivia stated. Harry laughed, tossing back his curls.

“Do you ever think about kids?”

“No,” Olivia answered honestly. “Why? You got a few bastards I don’t know about?”

“Darcy and Ben are not bastards.” Harry joked, “Nah, one of our team has a baby girl—Lux.” He smiled thoughtfully. “She’s cutest thing you’ll ever see. So sweet, so innocent. You just want her to stay that way forever, you know?” He pawed his hair, seriousness covering his pale face.

“Yeah, I know.” Olivia answered distantly. She wasn’t sure if he was simply talking about baby Lux, or about himself, or his corruption of others. It was one of those rare moments when Harry let you in to see his damaged soul, that there was an actual human being who cared for beautiful things and the well-being of others. It was breathtakingly perfect to Olivia.

The two stood in silence for a few moments, watching the children and sipping on their beverages, simply thinking. They didn’t voice their thoughts, those were private. But, Olivia inched closer until their bare arms were touching and that felt personal enough.

“How’s Charlie?” Harry asked suddenly. Olivia started.

“Having a secret love affair with Julia.” She muttered monotonously.

“What?” Harry chortled, “You can’t be serious, Olive.”

“Well, they haven’t flat out admitted it but whenever we talk they avoid the subject.” Olivia pursed her lips, “Last week my dad called and Julia was with him.”

“That doesn’t seem like evidence of a passionate love affair.” Harry reasoned.

“You don’t know her like I do. You didn’t hear the way she sounded.” Olivia shook her head defiantly. “Something’s going on but they’re not telling me.”

“Why don’t you ask?”

“Wow, what a brilliant idea.” She muttered sarcastically, “Let me just call my dad up and ask. You think I haven’t tried, Harry?”

He put up his hands in defense, “Just spit-ballin’. Don’t take my bloody head off, love.”

“Sorry,” Olivia sighed, settling back down onto the rail. “Sorry, I’m just...”

“Betrayed?” Harry tried.

“I don’t know.” She shook her head. “It’s not my life so I can’t really feel anything about it, can I?”

“He’s your dad, Olive.”

Olivia sniffed in the warm September air. Harry moved in closer to her face and she momentarily stiffened before Harry’s phone went off.

He smirked and placed it to his ear, sipping his tea. “’Ello?” He waited, and then looked up at the sky. “Yeah, it’s a good day for the beach, but how many times have I told you, Nialler, Jersey Shore will rot your brain, yeah?” Harry laughed genuinely. “I’ll let her know. We’ll meet you out front in ten.”

Olivia peered expectantly at the handsome Brit. “They want to experience the Jersey shore?”

“They let Niall watch the telly unsupervised.” Harry clucked his tongue, pocketed the phone. “Again.”

Olivia laughed and Harry placed his arm inside her’s, and they walked back to the car.

+ + +

Unlike the city, the shore was quite chilly. Maybe it was the fact that Olivia deliberately took them to a less known part of the shore line that wasn’t inhabited by Niall’s new favorite show, but the sun wasn’t shining when they emptied out of the car. Niall seemed visibly disappointed but Harry thanked her for it. He didn’t need Niall losing his head, or the publicity of what the actual Jersey Shore would bring.

Within moments though, Niall cheered up and ran wild along with beach. Louis brought a football and they began a game: two-on-two with Louis and Liam on one team and Niall and Zayn on the other. Harry wasn’t interested in playing. As far as he was concerned, Olivia was still on a date with him.

Harry grabbed Olivia’s hand, pulling her along just roughly enough to get her moving. Their feet pressed through the sandy floor, kicking up the brown beach. Olivia’s long skirt brushed lightly to the side from the wind. Harry had rolled up his jeans to keep from getting sand in them.

“Come on, Olive.” Harry walked backwards, giving Olivia that cheeky grin that made her heart melt.

“I’m right here.” She muttered, smiling despite herself. “Where are we going? We’re already at the beach.”

Harry shrugged his tank topped shoulders, glancing over to the sea green water. “In?”

“No,” Olivia shook her head quickly; halting so suddenly that Harry almost fell backwards from losing his grip. “I didn’t wear my bathing suit and it’s nearly sixty degrees.”

Harry smirked, giving Olivia that look like he was up to no good.

Before she could react, Harry wrapped his arms around her tiny frame and dunked their bodies in the freezing cold ocean water. Olivia gasped, spluttering up water from the impact. Her eyes burned from the salt. For a moment, she felt as though she couldn’t breathe.

They stood up, shaking already from the mixture of the ice cold water and breezy air.

“Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.” Harry chattered, his long hair matted in his face from the water. Olivia couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of his appearance. A happy smile crept up on Harry’s face.

“What?” Olivia muttered, feeling her cheeks heat up under his stare.

He shrugged, “I just like when you laugh. It’s nice.”

Olivia rolled her eyes before realizing how close they were once again. Harry still hadn’t released his grip on her.

When Olivia peered back up at Harry there was no smile. His face was serious, as if he was contemplating something.

“What?” Olivia repeated, “Do you like when I roll my eyes, too?”

He shook his head, closing his eyes briefly.

Olivia found herself breathing in deeply to calm her rapid heart down. One of Harry’s hands was located on the small of her back and the other had situated itself on her right hip. She couldn’t understand her reaction to Harry. They’d already had sex, why should the intimacy of a simple kiss work her up?

Harry’s eyes flashed down to Olivia’s lips and back up to her eyes. Olivia found herself unconsciously stretching upwards, closing the gap between their faces. She could feel his warm breath on her face. It smelt of mint gum.

Harry pressed his lips down, lingering a few moments before pulling away. Olivia thought her heart was about to jump out of her throat.

The look on Harry’s face was urgent. He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by another.

“Olivia!” Liam’s panicked voice rang through the air. “Olivia, it’s your dad.”

Harry dropped his arms and Olivia moved away to get a better look at Liam. He looked as distressed as he sounded.

Olivia felt sick. She knew nothing good was going to flow from his mouth. She completely forget that Harry was trying to say something.

“It’s your dad, Olivia.” Liam breathed, running towards the pair, “He’s in the hospital.”

Notes

Dun, dun, dun!